The Dread House Logs
by Shiney One
Summary: I play a character named Cecelia in my DND group and these are the logs from our game nights. This campaign is the Dread House and starts at Level 7. Chapter one- Entering Sorenton our group learns of a coming storm and a growing concern. -Cecelia and crew enter the mansion.
1. Chapter 1

The Dread House

**OR**

Spooky Times

**OR**

That Time We Agreed to Clear Out a Haunted Mansion After Too Many Drinks.

* * *

Cecelia

Day of dying

10/31

* * *

As we travel the old overgrown road, I wonder what this area used to be like. I can see the edges of wide roads that surely used to be traveled, its old worn stones now overgrown with years of neglect and disuse. Scarecrows with their pumpkin heads speckle the fields that straddle the road for miles, each one an odd, yet endearing sight.

An ocarina plays in the distance, an unusual and haunting ballad of glory, loss and death. When the song is over, I do not hear it again.

The wind picks up, a hint of coming rains touches my nose and I look up to the skies and around. Behind us, and moving quickly in our direction, a thick churning storm is brewing. The sight is both beautiful and frightening. My love of storms is overshadowed by an unusual feeling. Maybe it was that ballad from the ocarina that has me a little on edge.

Whatever the case may be, the town of Sorenton is close. And we will find ourselves shelter from this storm there. With any luck we might find ourselves with full stomachs and I might find a few loose purses lying around.

The edge of my lip curls in excitement at the thought before I can stop myself. Kavanath catches my eye and I quickly try to prevent him from seeing my thoughts, as if they could actually be written on my face.

I still don't understand why the paladin thinks he can "help me to a better path," as he put it. But for now, his good graces give me a giant meat-shield, and that is something I can utilize.

As is custom for this region we head to the center of town,ring the bell and wait to be greeted. As we wait for someone to come out I look around and notice that despite it not even being dinner time, the streets are empty and with the clouds moving in its a bit darker than it should be, these create the illusion of it being much later than it really is.

After a short wait a cute little old lady comes rushing out of her home to greet us. She pleasantly rushes through her introduction and greeting, pointing to different parts of the run-down and half-deserted village as she points out the different businesses: Inn, Trading Post, Temple of Lathander,and the Bar.

After a short pause to catch her breath she continues less rehearsed, warning us with weight in her voice, "The Dread Storm is coming."

Dread Storm. That wasn't a reference to it just being a rough storm, she was using a name for it. A small chill runs down my neck and my skin prickles a little.

"You do not want to be caught outside when it gets here," it was definitely a warning, "whatever you chose to do, you should decide before the storm arrives. And when it hits, you need to stay there until the storm passes."

I'm more than pleased when it isn't me who is the first to suggest the bar, though I cannot remember which of the others had spoken up first. I suspect it was the Thonom and his bottomless stomach speaking, but it matters little.

As we enter we're greeted with kind smiles from a couple behind the bar, the same is not true of the rest of the room. Stillness fills the air then, after a moment talking resumes softly. Our group settles into the only empty table large enough for us in the room. I briefly wonder if the silence was brought on for my non-human friends or simply by our foreign origin.

A peel of thunder rips through the air making everyone jump.

The only people interested in talking to us are the bartenders, Camille and Franco. Camille introduces herself to us and brings out several mugs of ale. I watch the room, trying to take the room in. I can see many of them are trying to get a good look at us without being noticed. I suppress a laugh when I turn to stare at one and he turns quickly back to stare intently into his mug.

Most of these folk have brought with them tools, pitch forks, hoes and farming implements of the like. Improvised weapons I assume, these folks are really worried about something. They aren't fighters, but here they are with their make-shift weapons.

Camille tells us that she and Franco are working on a lovely delicacy for dinner, White Stew. The description sounds delicious and though its ingredients are gone from my mind before she is done speaking, my mouth still waters at the thought.

Camille gives us a soft smile and tells us in a kind voice that we cannot leave tonight, we must stay for our own safety. It wasn't an order and she would have no way of enforcing it, but it is clear that she is doing her best and means well. My friends understand as well, but it does spark some questions on our part. Questions that barely leave our mouths when the stew started to boiling over and she had to rush over to help Franco with the stew.

I can see Jemmalie's little form slyly making her way across the room. The gnome would be easily mistaken for a child if not for her saunter and hips. She hops on a bench between two of the younger men within a group, "What's this Dread Storm coming?" she pipes with a friendly endearing smile.

One of the young men shifted uncomfortably, and mumbled "Demon storm."

"Comes from Hell itself," another adds with extra drama

"Comes every year at this time," an old farmer takes a slow gulp of his ale, "for over 30 years."

"What happened 30 years ago?" Jemmalie asks straightening her back and leaning forward so that the old man wouldn't miss her inquiry.

"It's because of the wedding of Persephone Tashmere," he said mournfully putting his empty mug back on the table.

Thonom makes his way over, and the grace of a drunk rhino, "who's getting married?"

There was some uncomfortable shifting among the farmers for a few moments while they waited for someone to volunteer to tell what was clearly a tale no one wanted to speak of.

The old man with the empty ale mug took a deep, shaky breathe, "Thirty-three years ago, Lord Tashmere, lived here. He was a great paladin, vanquished many powerful foes in this area. He settled down and had children. A daughter, she was beautiful. And she fell in love with a farmer's son. A lot of us thought he wouldn't let her marry someone of low breeding, but that was not the case. They planned for the wedding to be on the Day of Dead.

"Lord Tashmere went to the temple for blessings and the High Priest consulted the gods who strongly warned him something bad was going to happen. He was indignant and even more insistent that it be done on this day. He invited everyone, even the common folk," there were nods from around the table, "we were all very excited. People came from all four corners of the map, important folk arrived at the mansion the night before, they came to stay at the mansion.

"The night before the wedding, the Day of Dying, this night thirty-three years ago, there was a horrible storm. Many people swore there was horrible screaming from the mansion. But the storm was so bad no one could go check on the folks up there.

Another of the older men picked the story up as the first stood to head over and refill his mug, "When the time of the wedding came, we all waited for the bells to ring to announce the start of the wedding, but the bells never rang. A couple groups of people were sent to check on the people at the mansion. The first had little to report, but the second group was more brave, some went inside and found the beheaded and mutilated corpses throughout the mansion, many had had their hearts ripped out. They found the bride and groom together, holding hands."

Someone whispers a kind word for the dead as the table grows especially quiet.

"The storm gets worse every year," one of the younger farmers says, finally breaking the silence, "Redig, he's the Captain of the guard, is trying to get anybody to go into the mansion and try to clear out the curse. But he's on a fools errand, no one has that much of a death wish."

Talk around the tables seem to continue in bits an pieces and a few more stragglers make their way in from the storm. Each of my travel companions strikes up a conversation with someone trying to understand what could be the real mystery behind the storm. Everyone except Kavanath and I.

I preferred not to draw attention to myself with large crowds and Kavanath prefers not to take his eyes off a thief in large crowds. Besides, I can hear more when I'm not actively participating in conversations. It seems that everyone agrees they hear demons and ghosts with each of these Demon storms. There are rumors that cows have disappeared, but some say that's all it is, rumors.

After their reconnaissance is somewhat complete, my friends begin to return to our table. We speak amongst ourselves some sharing information and thoughts.

Thonom uses his Druid craft to check the weather. Its a neat trick, we can see the storm with it's unusual and amazing red lightening. As I watch I can see something is swirling in the clouds, then it just disappears. A feeling of dread fills the pit of my stomach and even I know something is very wrong. Coming from me that should mean something.

More people arrive to stay, the wind whipping in behind them. One is a woman about my age. She sits sits in the corner alone and just drinks.

Penny, as we are quickly introduced to the next person coming into the bar, looks at us, smiles, and nods. She is the town's treasurer, we're told, and someone very important to the people here. Compared to the farmers she is much cleaner and better kept.

Another woman sits herself down at one of the tables and begins to lay out a fabric on the table, a crystal ball sits delicately on a padded pedestal and she draws a deck of tarot from her satchel.

The stew is served, it is very good.

Finally, I realize my particular charms may be useful. I head over to the lone woman drinking, I take my drink and another mug for her.

I place the extra mug in front of her and do not wait to be invited to sit down. I can recognize another outcast when I see one.

She eyes me, and growls at me. Her wild brown hair and Asian eyes clash in a charming way with her freckles.

"Hiding in here too, huh?" I taunt tilting my mug at the farmers, "just like the rest of them."

"Yeah," she says, "until they kick me out, which _will_ happen."

"Why's that?"

"Because of who I am."

Kavanath, unable to keep me out of trouble from across the room, brings his enormous form over and sits in a chair, making it seem like a child's seat. The woman stares up at him for a minute.

"My, you're a big fella." She stares up at Kavanath's goliath frame in aw.

"What's your name?" he asked much more polite than I had been.

"If you must know, it's Ushi."

"Why are these people going to throw you out?" I press, "they seem like nice people, that isn't a very nice thing to do."

"Not when you're a half-breed," she huffs, "not when your father is who he was. You really want to hear this?" Her tone changed to disbelief.

"Yeah," I shrug, "We're new to the area, and we've got nowhere to be until tomorrow anyway."

"I'm a descendant of Li Akatayo, he was a noble who joined Tashmere on his holy crusade. He's the only one who survived the Dread Wedding. Lord Akatayo and his men were the last company to arrive for party. They found the mansion and the inn full, so they camped on the hillside. They would venture into town for food and comfort. For my father that was a woman with fiery red hair, my mother, Molly Cardell.

"On "he day of the wedding when the people found the bodies of the dead at the mansion, they went to Lord Akatayo's camp he and his men could not be found, but the camp had not been struck. Tracks showed they left in a rush, though most don't believe it, people still talk and a lot still see me as the spawn of evil.

"I grew up here, my mother died when I was younger, I even got married and was happy. But some saw me as part of the calamity. I wanted to know the truth of Sorenton so I left to find my father. My husband stayed behind, promised to wait for me, no matter how long it took.

"I then went on a long journey, finally finding my father the lord of a small took me in without pause, and he told me the truth of that night.

"The storm had come, he and his men weathered it as best as they could. Then a silence so profound that the men were roused from their tents to investigate it. A scream filled the air, the horses panicked and the men writhed in torment. The sound came from the mansion. They began to move to the mansion but another scream, this time from his men made him stop. A wall of flame around the house burned several men to death. Chaos ensued and Lord Akatayo blacked out. When he finally came to only when he arrived home."

Ushi's tale said more than I expected. I wish I could do something to lighten this pain of hers. "My father wanted me to stay, but I wanted to return to my husband. When I returned I found that he had left shortly after I did. I felt broken and destroyed. Since then all I've done is drink."

I know that words will not help her, and so I let the air between us sit empty.

"If you're willing I would like to take you to my house and show you something, I would like to give you something," she tells us before upending her mug.

"Why are you going to give something to us?" Kavanath asks.

"I like you, you look like good people," she tells us, "You two are the first people in a long time to talk to me.

I signal to Jemmalie that we'll be back shortly, she nods, and the three of us step out into the eerie night.

Her home is a bottle-strewn hovel and my pity for her grows, but I know pity would not be an invited emotion for her. I do not acknowledge the condition of the home. She hands me a thin necklace of red gold with a blazing sun. She tells me that her father gave it to her in case she ever went into Tashmere's mansion.

"The idea of taking a look around up there had crossed my mind," I admit.

"That's why I want you to have it. It's supposed to help against attacks from the spirit world," she says, "I hope it helps you somehow, that house has ruined my family's reputation. I hope you tear it to the ground." The last words held a little venom, and I hold back a small smile.

As we head back towards the inn Kavanath stops us. His towering height and bulk a welcoming shield from the wind, "Ushi," he says with all the gentle kindness a goliath can express, "I can see that you are suffering from alcoholism. I can help you be free of this, if it's something you would like."

She looks at him with something that either makes my heart ache or my stomach threaten to hurl, I'm not sure, "You-? You would do that for me?"

It was such a heart breaking moment, such a foreign feeling. I try to push it away. Someone so in need of help to have someone finally give it to her.

"May I lay my hands on you?"

She nods and almost in a comical visage his enormous hands rest on her tiny shoulders as if she were nothing more than a tiny doll. I can almost feel the warmth of his prayer and spell, though I will always deny it. As if refreshed and renewed Ushi smiles, she looks from Kavanath to me and back in near disbelief.

"Thank you!" she says with earnest gratefulness tears streaking down her freckled checks, "thank you for everything." She promises to pray for us as she rushes off to the temple to weather the storm there. I hope she eventually goes home to her father, and finds her peace there.

* * *

Back at the bar, Thonom sees the fortune teller. She's apparently blows his mind. Because he spends the next half hour telling everyone to be cautious in the next 48 hours.

Jemmalie greets Penny, a quiet-looking older woman, and learns that she was around when the house fell. She's the town secretary and treasurer. Her voice is sad when she says the town's dying.

She tells Jemmalie the Lord had Deities who were his enemies. And this is why he should not have had the wedding on this day.

Somehow the topic of the current cleric in the temple comes up and Penny tells her the Cleric in the temple has a crush on Redig.

Storm hits in the middle of dinner. Franko says "it's time." Several patrons shutter the windows and block the door. A young man and woman begin to play music to try and drown out the storm. Everyone tries to act normal.

Thorick attempts his own divination: What is our best action that we can take in the next seven days to prevent a recurrence of the Dread Storm.

The Answer: Attend the Dread wedding and kill the pumpkin man

My mind goes back to the last pumpkin I saw, the scarecrows in the fields.

Thorick reinforces the door with a magic warding.

Lingering flashes of lightening, and a boom of thunder make everyone stop. There's pounding at the door startling everyone. I sink into the shadows, Thonom stands.

Others stand and approach the door to see who it is. Someone says, "It's Redig! Let him in!"

I do not like this. This is not likely him. But we are likely able to take care of whatever comes through.

The door swings open and a man comes in.

He's kind of a dick. Calls everyone names and essentially says everyone is a sissy and cowards. Blight is spreading. Repeats the same rhetoric we've heard over and over. He speaks to his God asking where his heroes were.

When Skud mentions we had been discussing going, Redig runs with it and tells us we need to go at the break in the storm. He promises us all the riches within the mansion, and 500G each to go with him. Penny tells him that they don't have that kind of money.

He offers to take us there. He even offers to go in with us and help, but we decline. We work well as a team and having a wild card might throw us off.

A lull in the storm arrives, and it's time for us to depart.


	2. Chapter 2

Playing Hide and Seek With a Child-Ghost

**OR**

Poltergeist Bowling

**OR**

That Time We Fought a Flaming Jack-O-Lantern

* * *

Day of the Dying

10/31

A lull in the storm, we leave the inn to head to the old smithy's home.

* * *

Redig tells us there's a dwarf named Kogan Smashhammer he wants to visit before we leave since we he may have some information for us.

As Redig had told it to us, Kogan was the town smithy for years, even during the time of the Tashmere wedding. Kogan made everything for the wedding, anything made of metal. Including, I couldn't help but hear, silver cups engraved with all the names of every guest, hundreds in total. All of which vanished.

Redig takes us to the Iron Spike trading post. When he pounds his fist on the old door, it opens for him. As we follow him in, I can see a room occupied by only two people: an old Dwarf with his white beard tied back, hands gnarled with arthritis, and his wife who only appears few decades younger.

As Redig had told it to us, Kogan was the town smithy for years, even during the time of the Thashmere wedding. He made everything for the wedding, anything made of metal. Including, I couldn't help but hear, silver cups engraved with all the names of every guest, hundreds of cups in total. All of which vanished.

Kogan tells us that Tashmere was a great warrior, and that he, Kogan, worked on all kinds of weapons in his lord's armory. Then, as if the world was taking him back to relive a moment, he tells of the time Tashmere let Kogan work on the lord's personal weapon, Sunray. "It was a sword of pure light. When you drew it from its scabbard it would fill the room with light," he tells us, his eyes drifting in thought as he relives that time in his mind, "When Milord would hold it, it would shine so bright you couldn't look at it. But when I held it, the light would grow dull."

I slip behind Kavanath again. His gargantuan form is good for hiding so that I no longer have to engage in the hero worship of a man who brought ruin to a region full of innocent people with his ego. But not engaging didn't mean not listening.

Kogan continues by describing Tashmere's weapon. Something that was interesting to anyone's ears. A light sword about 3 feet long with pure gold and silver, something that could pierce any armor. A "Soul Sword." The sword was never found.

"Is this something that he would have carried around with him?" Thonom asked.

"No." Kogan scratched his chin for a moment with his deformed fingers, a move that seemed to pain him. "He kept it in one of his towers. Are you guys really going to go in there?"

"Unless you're going to talk us out of it." Thonom almost smiled.

"No," Kogan breathed a laugh. "If you're going in there, I'd like to help you."

"Please do," Jemmalie said excitedly. "We will take any help we can get."

"That would be great!" replied Thonom.

"Do you have a map of the place?" Thorick asks, speaking up for the first time.

"I do not," the old dwarf says with a shake of his head. He flips open a hidden compartment and hands a mace to Thorick. "But I do have a few things you might find useful."

He drags out a few other things before we depart. Thonom received an Acorn Amulet and the rest of us received flasks of sun-water.

The rain picks up and there's a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, like something is coming. That feeling is telling me to stay inside where it's safe, but I ignore it. I can't let my friends go into danger alone. I take a breath, and we head out into the storm again.

* * *

By the time we get to the mansion, there's a running stream of water down the back of my tunic.

It's about 10 pm when we arrive at the mansion. By now there's a stream of water running down the back of my tunic. My hair falls in stings rain dripping down around my face. Redig gives us the key, offering again to join us inside. Jemmalie, the one who is always up for company, is thankfully silent. She would not invite this man in, despite his eagerness to help. If this is as dangerous as he says, he is woefully under-prepared for the beasts and foes inside.

"Thank you," Kavanath says kindly, his hulking frame blocking the entirety of the doorway as he ducks to enter through the main entrance. "But your village needs you, lest we do not succeed."

I curl my lip to keep from scoffing. I suppose that's probably the truth for Kavanath; a paladin would want to keep people safe from this mess of a storm, but I have difficulty trusting in people. And I'm not sure Redig is someone I want watching my back in an unfamiliar place.

Redig nods courtly, relief crossing his face. He really didn't want to come with us. Then he rushes back towards town, I assume, in hopes of reaching safety before the Dread Storm hits again. I wager he needs to run if he's going to make it in time. But he's no longer our problem; the wind whips between us as we file inside the mansion.

The entrance room is massive three levels high, red carpet darkened with dust and age, covers every inch of the curved staircases. A set for either side of the room, as grand as the room is big, the banister carved in great detail from ancient trees curved up the side of the stairs to the second and third floors. My thieving heart leaps into my chest as I wonder what treasures must lay within this massive home.

Cobwebs fill any nook and cranny and corner, collecting mostly dust and other spiders.

Between the stairs in front of us is a set of double doors, despite being only doors, they seemed better quality than most.

Tashmere clearly understood the meaning of "grandiose," and he flaunted it. As a thief, a scoundrel, a rogue, I understand the desire, the itch to take. But I have never found it of interest to flaunt or show wealth. That only makes you a target. This place makes me itch, but it also makes me uncomfortable.

As is customary for our group, I see Jemmalie's little gnome form crawl up the side of the wall, and I smile. Her usual post on the walls and ceilings keeps her from falling into a trap or falling victim to surprises, but she doesn't separate herself from the group. That's my job.

Slowly and so silently I can't even hear my own footsteps, I move forward to investigate. Every tendon and muscle in my body moves with specific intent, better than the tiny gears and springs responsible for keeping time and moving hands in the jewel encrusted pocket watch from that pompous, ostentatious merchant that one time. Flaunting wealth makes you a target. My ears are attuned to the sounds around me; if a mouse sneezes on the other side of the mansion I will hear it. But there's nothing.

My body relaxes and I signal the go-ahead to my team. Just as the others come to join me near the middle of the lower level, a young girl appears in front of me.

"Oh!" The sound escapes my mouth quietly, so that only I can hear it, but I struggle to hide the flush of heat that threatens to cover my face.

"Hello!" she says with cheer. "Who are you?"

In a formal red dress with ribbons in her blonde hair, she looks like she's early school-age.

"My name's Cecelia," I say in just as cheery a tone, trying to hide that she genuinely startled me. "Who are you?"

"I am Christina Tashmere. But everyone calls me Chrisi, that's spelled with an -i-" she specifies as if dictating. I smile gently at her, and she continues, "I'm five years old."

"Five-year-old Chrisi," Thonom speaks up with a friendly tone. "What are you doing here Chrisi?"

"I live here," she tells us. Then her tone changes to adventurous, and a childish grin touches her sweet face. "I'm playing hide and seek, do you wanna play?"

"I love playing hide and seek," I say.

I can hear the others also volunteer to play.

Thonom points at me, "She's _super good_ at it." I can hear stifled laughs as I control my own reaction to be one of a modest agreement. "But we sort of came for the wedding?" Thonom's voice rose to a question.

Then the conversation changed from fun, to seriousness.

"Do you know anything about the wedding?" Jemmalie asked, her tiny form appearing like another child, weaving herself through her friends.

I have to try to keep her talking; I know she isn't going to want to talk about the wedding and I suspect we don't have much time with the little ghost. "What are your favorite hiding spots, Chrisi?"

"Oh I hide all over," she answered simply, ignoring my friends' questions. "I hide from my mommy, my daddy and from-" but she looks nervous, and suddenly stops speaking.

I sigh, understanding the feeling of fear, "I know what you mean. Sometimes I hide from scary people too. I understand."

Catching on Thonom follows suit, "I used to hide from my big brother. What do you hide from?"

"I hide from my mommy and daddy," she repeats.

"And where are they?" Thorick asks.

"They're still here," she tells us, but I can see that soon it'll be us she'll be hiding from. She doesn't want to answer our questions. If only we knew what the right question was, but it may be too late. She probably won't answer anything for too much longer. "They're all just hiding. But not for long, they'll all come out soon, you'll see. That's the wedding you talked about."

Then as if she sees something terrifying, she freezes. I look in the direction she's looking, but there's nothing there. When I turn back, she's running away into the wall and she's gone.

I straighten and stare after her. I know better than to chase after a ghost, even a child.

"How do we want to do this?" Kavanath asks. "This is a big place."

"The best way to get through a maze is to always go left," Jemmalie pipes up from her place on the wall, to where she had immediately returned when Chrisi ran away.

"We're not in a maze," Skud reminds her. "We're in a mansion."

"I still vote left," she shrugs.

No one can offer a better suggestion, so we head through the double doors with the intention to head left if the opportunity should arise.

As always, I am the first to enter, only the soft whisper of my cloak brushing through the air makes any noise as I step soundlessly into the room and peer around. Nothing seems amiss in here and so I invite my friends to join me. The room is not quite as grand as the main entrance, but it is interesting and I find that the beautiful carpet draws my eye.

The room was at one point pristinely cared for and decorated by someone who knew what they were doing. There are a couple of tables and a few chairs, and I recognize a lovely sitting room.

I exchange a look and Thonom heads to the door on the left, motioning for me to follow. He puts his ear against the door to listen. Then he motions for me to come over. "Would you check for traps?" he asks when I'm close enough.

I oblige. And as I slowly open the door I whisper, "Chrisi? Are you in here?"

But no one answers me.

The hallway is unremarkable in its aged extravagance. A carpet more expensive than most homes stretches on forever, and the wallpapered walls were once meant to be pleasing and inviting, but the years have yellowed and browned them, making them more sickly than inviting.

As we make our way down the hall, I can hear Skud's skelly-friends enter the room behind us. Their joints rubbing bone on bone, making me cringe just a little.

We come to the first set of doors, and I look back.

"Left?" Jem shrugs.

No one else says anything so I check the door. Not locked, I open it and enter. The floor is painted, big, green and tasteless, a rectangle with white lines. Stranger are the large variety of balls laying all over the floor of this room. I almost don't notice it at first, especially as Thonom brushes past me to get a look out the window to the Dread Storm outside, but all of the balls are moving. Just barely, as if they were slowing to a stop or just beginning to roll down a hill.

Again it's Thonom who draws my attention away.

"Aargh! By Moradin's Beard! Did you see that?" he cries. He throws himself away from the window into the wall, loses his footing and lands on the floor. His face pale and his breath quick.

"Thonom?" I come to his side and lay my hand on his shoulder to calm him. "What is it?"

"It-it was huge!" he stutters. He looks up for confirmation that I saw it too. But I can offer no such comfort to my friend.

I reach for his hand to help him up, but he smacks it away, his pride hurt.

"I'm fine!" he barks and climbs to his feet quickly with a grumble, refusing to look back at the window or at me.

I can hear the rest of my group filing into the room now.

Jemmalie marvels at the self-propelled balls, and as Skud brings up the rear of the group, the balls begin to move more and more on their own.

The large assortment of balls begin to move around more on their own until they are nearly bouncing. "They're under a spell," I say with certainty, stepping for the door. "We should get out before something happens."

From the door I watch at Thonom grips his mace and strikes one of the yellow balls. He jerks his head as if he hears something, but whatever it is, I can't tell.

"Guys," he says, motioning for the others to follow me from the room. The yellow ball hits the wall and bounces back to him, and he hits it away as he steps towards the door. He carefully watches as the balls are oddly missing him and the others as they also leave the room.

Then, in the corner of the room, a set of pins stand themselves up.

Skud beat me to the hallway and Kavanath and Thorick are here as well. Jemmalie scrambles out of the room, crawling quickly along the wall. For a moment I'm worried she's going to lose her footing, but she makes it past the doorway without any missteps.

Despite their rush to leave, Jemmalie and Skud had tried to hit a few of the balls on their way out, though neither with the same success as Thonom.

As Thonom nears the door, he hits one of the balls with his mace again, directing it to the pins. All of the pins fall to the ground. The room erupts in loud cheers and celebration, and the balls that had been bouncing about begin flying haphazardly around the room. Chaos has arrived. Some of the heavier ones seem as though they could really hurt if they hit you.

Kavanath grabs Thonom and pulls him from the room, and Skud pulls the door shut.

Thonom laughs heartily, a little nervousness underneath.

Once I am sure everyone is out of the room and okay, we head to the next room.

"Guys," Jemmalie says, stopping everyone in the hall. "They want us to go back in that room."

I exchange looks with the others then back to her, concerned.

"Yeah," Skud agrees, his lazy tone dragging out the word. "I was hearing some voices too."

"Go back into the room?" Thonom asks disbelieving.

"It was more like 'You shouldn't be here,'" Skud mimicks in a loud whisper, "'Time to go.'"

I shake my head, "We're already in it too deep."

"The storm has us stuck here, whether we want to do something about this place or not," Kavanath says, his usual calm demeanor changed by the circumstances. "We made our choice when we entered the front doors. No spirits can turn my mind by whispering in my ear."

"Well there you go," Jemmalie chirps. "Did you hear that? Can't change our minds."

We head to the next room, and the smell that greets us is like walking into a grove of lemons. The room must have been magically enchanted to still smell like this after 30 years of inattention.

Jem follows me in, crawling across the ceiling. I look up to see if she has any reasonable explanation for the lemon smell, but she seems just as puzzled. I suppose the answer will always turn out to be that someone had too much money.

"Do the walls taste like snozberries?" Thonom asks as he enters, breaking the silence.

"Lick the walls," I suggest dryly, "let me know."

I realize he's trying to ease the tension, and for a moment it works, but then I wonder what a snozberry actually is. I decide I'm not sure I want to know. Then I hear a voice in my ear, a whispering cracking voice. Not malicious, but warning: "Run mortal, run."

I try hard to control my outward reaction, but I'm shaken. The hairs on the back of my neck and arms are standing straight up, and I have goosebumps that have crawled all the way down my legs. My heart is pounding in my chest and in my ears. I am the one who sneaks. I do not get sneaked up on. I take a shaking deep breath and repress the natural 'what the fuck' that wants to escape my mouth.

"Cecelia?" Kavanath asks noticing. "Are you okay?"

I only nod uncomfortably, and swallow the lump in my throat, "something definitely wants us out of here."

"Right," Jemmalie agrees, then with less gravity, "Next room!"

I nod in agreement.

The next room is yet another game room. This one has tables for card and dice games and a chess board set up mid-game.

Thorick walks over to look at the chess board. He reaches out to make the next move for the white pieces. But he can't move it. "Maybe it's not their turn." He reaches for a black piece, but it also doesn't move.

"Maybe someone just doesn't want you to interrupt their game?" Skud suggests.

"Or the right people have to play," Jem pipes in.

"Chrisi?" I hear Thonom asking quietly.

Just then a ball bounces through the wall, and we're all a bit alarmed to see it. Chrisi follows quickly after trying to catch up to her ball.

"Oh!" she says, surprised to see us. "You're still here."

"Chrisi," I say just as surprised.

Her eyes fall to her ball and I watch as Thonom stoops to pick it up. He passes it from hand to hand; it's a real ball. Then, seeing her watching him, he tosses it to her underhand. She doesn't try to catch it though, and it passes through her, bouncing against the wall and rolling away on the floor, forgotten.

"Who are you?" she asks pointedly. "Are you with the Pumpkin Man?"

"We are _not_ with the Pumpkin Man," Thonom replies with emphasis.

"Good!" she answers quickly. "I don't like the Pumpkin Man, he's mean."

"Is that you you hide from?" Thonom asks her. "The Pumpkin Man?"

She nods, her innocent face marred with fear. "Daddy says it's 'cause of the Pumpkin Man that we're here."

All happiness and cheer washes away from this child's face and a shadow of darkness falls over her as she talks about the Pumpkin Man. Then the same darkness falls over the room.

Coming through the wall as if it weren't there steps a creature that makes my skin crawl. A Hellishly blazing Jack-o-Lantern for a head atop a twisted vine-formed body, knot-formed hands. The creature wears a gentleman's tailored suit, but is clearly no gentleman.

A high-pitched scream fills the room, piercing to the deepest parts of my ears. Chrisi's scream catches me off guard, nearly as much as the sight before me. I reach out to her to protect her, not thinking that she is a specter. Before my hands can ever pass through the air where she stands, she runs from the room. I'm glad she's run away to safety.

The Pumpkin Man steps forward to follow her, but I take a step into his path. I can see Thonom's mace as he raises it, ready for the coming fight. Wishing I had something more clever to say I simply tell him, "I don't think so."

Thonom moves forward his mace up, a battle cry erupts from his mouth.

Even if Chrisi is already dead, I'm not going to just let him continue to chase and torment some poor little girl's soul. She's terrified of him, and has been hiding from him for 30 years. It's time she didn't have to hide from him anymore.

Jemmalie shoots her Sacred Flame spell from the ceiling in the hallway, using the doorway as cover.

The Pumpkin Man whips it's vines at Thonom, and it uses a spell from within it's eyes to hit the druid as well.

Thonom looks pale, having not expected such a heavy first strike. His dwarven body shifts and changes, growing in size, doubling and doubling again until his head is almost brushing the ceiling. His skin becomes covered in white fur, and his face elongates into a muzzle and sharp teeth. His hands and fingers are now massive paws and claws. He roars angrily at the Pumpkin Man, and the room shakes in response.

I stab the Pumpkin Man with both my rapiers, but I can see that they are doing very little in the way of damage. The only thing I can think of is how difficult this is going to be. Thorick's divination had said we needed to kill the Pumpkin man. This is going to be much harder than I had expected.

Thorick swings his Mace of Destruction. The room is bathed in bright radiant light and he connects with the Pumpkin Man, though I cannot tell if he is doing any more damage than I.

Jemmalie crawls along the ceiling until she's directly above the enemy and casts her Spirit Guardians. I smile, knowing Jemmalie would not put herself in harm's way without something good up her sleeve.

And it pays off.

Seeing that he cannot escape or fight against this attack, the Pumpkin Man dissipates.

After evaluating ourselves we head back to the hall. Thonom remains a bear as we reach the end of the hall. A door on the left and a hall to the right. We will of course go left.


	3. Chapter 3

The Dread House; South-East Tower; Adjoining room.

Cecelia

Sometime After 11

Day of the Dying

* * *

I lead my friends into the next room. There is nothing of interest here, so we move through to another doorway. It opens outward from the tower, the stone walls are undecorated and grey. An old wooden stairway leads up, missing a step here and there along the way with a few landings to represent what I assume are the different floors of the house. A rope hangs down from the center.

A set of stairs also go down.

"I can sneak to the top, look for anything worthwhile up there. We're looking for that sword, right?" I suggest, my eyes turned upwards, looking at the bottom of the upper-most floor. "You should be able to hear me if I need anything."

They agree to this.

I head up, missing all of the broken steps with ease. None of them require much more than a long step to make it over; it's the silent stepping that's important here. About halfway from the third to the fourth landing is a gap in the steps. Six steps are missing or too broken to continue. I peer over the edge at my friends, wondering if they see the problem ahead of me.

6 steps.

No problem.

I go back a couple steps and give myself a running start. I launch myself from the last step and all I can hear is a rush, my pulse in my ears, and my feet along the wall. I land safely on the other side. Looking down at the distance, I berate myself a little. I should not be tempting fate like that. Some distances are too far, and one day my ambition will catch up to me.

I continue upwards.

The top floor is simply a bell tower, and all my sneaking was for naught. Movement draws my eyes upwards and I see hundreds of bats nesting in the peaked roof.

Suddenly, I am very grateful we didn't let Jemmalie climb the rope. And all thoughts of climbing down the rope were squashed as well.

I head to one of the shuttered windows and open it to look out. The rain is pouring down, but not so much that I cannot see the yard and the three children playing. Their ghostly forms tossing something back and forth.

To my horror I realize that two of them are tossing the head of the third back and forth in a twisted game of keep away. The other child running only a moment behind, trying to catch up, to be reunited with his head. My stomach turns and I pull the shutter closed again in disgust.

I make my way back 6 step gap seems less dangerous, but I still take it just as seriously, maybe a little more so.

At the bottom, I give a report of the bell and the bats. I don't mention looking out at the sickening sight below. We explore the basement of the tower as a group, but find nothing of value or interest. I did find that a few of the boxes had clearly been there for at least a few decades, or even a century or more.

We return to the hall, which strangely feels more inviting that it had before. We follow the hallway to the west and take the first left.

The walls are adorned with the heads of impressive beasts, taxidermied predators stand in the middle of the room, and stuffed birds sit in a tree near the window. We slowly walk in and begin to look around. Every creature is impressive or unusual in its own right.

"Is that a four-legged Ostrich?" Kavanath asks in wonder as he heads straight for it.

I walk down the line of mounted heads until I come to an empty mount. "Pennan Galen," I read outloud. "Hey, I wonder if this is our Pumpkin Man."

I turn to find Thonom sizing himself up to a similarly sized bear in the middle of the room. Jem is by the window poking the highest perched stuffed bird, that is also the largest, most brightly colored bird I've ever seen. Only Thorick and Kavanath seem to hear me.

As Skud enters the room, we're all taken by surprise. Every animal in the room begins roaring, growling, cawing or squawking. The cacophony is so loud I have to cover my ears as we run from the room.

Jemmalie somehow beats us all out and appears to be glued to the wall halfway back down the hallway checking to make sure she still has all her limbs.

As Kavanath makes it out, he slams the door behind him.

"That was unpleasant," Skud remarks. At least, I'm pretty sure that's what he's saying. My ears still hurt.

I rub the heel of my hand against each of my ears while I squeeze my eyes shut. I don't know that squeezing my eyes shut helps, but it doesn't hurt. I can feel my heart thumping in my chest, heavy and rapid.

After a few moments, and I'm sure my heart has settled back into my chest where it belongs, we're ready to move forward again.

In the few steps it takes to get to the next room, I ask my question again, ""Is the Pumpkin Man a Pennan Galen?"

"What is a Pennan Galen?" Jemmalie asks me in response.

I look to her and shrug.

I look back at the others. Thonom is back to being a dwarf, but he doesn't have an answer either.

We step into the next room. It seems like it could be an older entrance; there's a large staircase going up to a second level with double doors leading outside and large windows to either side of the front door.

Beneath the staircase is a grandfather clock.

Kavanath steps towards the windows to look out.

"Don't look out the windows!" I warn. "You're not going to like what you see out there. It's not pretty."

"Get out of my way," Thonom said irritably, "I've already seen it, I need to know if it's still out there."

As he looks out the window, we all watch his face. He's transfixed on something, and confused. When he steps away from the window he gives no explanation, and I exchange a look with him.

I think that maybe I am the only one who can understand. I'm the only other person who has looked out the window. Whatever he is seeing is probably pretty horrifying. We exchange a concerned look.

We head to the next room and find that it is a small dinning hall. "A servant's dining hall?" Thorick suggests.

No one argues. The lack of extravagance in this room could only mean that the unimportant people eat here.

Still I collect the silverware and place it in one of the bags one of Skud's Skelly-friends is holding, patting him on his head and thanking him as if he were a good boy.

Back in the hall we head on, another door on our left. Up ahead I can see that the hall is intersected with another hallway running to the North.

I open the door slowly, trying to remain quiet. I step in first, peering around, and find that it's like the outer room of the last tower. I assume I'm in a similar room at the base of the next tower. I walk cautiously, but I'm under-prepared for the jarring effects of the clock chiming midnight.

Each chime rings louder than the one before. Time stops. Everything is frozen. Even the dust drifting down stops frozen in mid-fall. I can't move, nothing can move. I've lost count of the chimes in my panic, and they're so loud that I can't think. Somewhere there is a collection of screams. The house screams. The chiming continues. Reality screams, and I feel like it might tear me apart. Through the slats of the shuttered windows I can see that the sky has turned red.

The chimes end and I can move. My heart is racing and I look around, expecting the Pumpkin Man to come through the walls to catch me off my guard. But nothing of the sort comes for me. Just the eerie silence that settles over the room for a moment. Something else is strange, like time is not constant, it's squishy.

Only Thonom enters, concern on his face. He had experienced it too, but he's too stubborn to admit how it affects him. He stops dead in his tracks, his mouth ajar, staring ahead of me.

I turn to see mist gathering and rising up in front of me. It twists and forms into the shape of a woman. The mist turns to color and the ghostly visage of a well-dressed maid appears, likely the head housekeeper. Her apron was freshly pressed and not a hair out of place, her posture straight and prideful.

She looks us over for a moment before speaking, her tone firm, her words almost recited.

"Top to bottom and bottom to top

Free them all and do not stop

Mind you be careful and focused and true

Do as I wish and I will do as you do."

"What does that mean?" I ask, stepping forward.

But she returns to mist and is gone before I can finish asking my question. I turn to Thonom, but he shrugs with a dry laugh. "I got nothin."

I enter the tower first, Thonom behind me, then Kavanath. The rest are hesitant to follow, letting me get a look around before coming in.

The smell of bread and pies baking hits me first, and I try to remember what I last ate. Was it white soup? That was so long ago. And I don't recall eating dessert.

I can see ghostly figures moving to and from the oven as they push pies in for baking. As my eyes follow them to the oven, I hear something moving inside.

From the depths of the oven I hear someone scream, "Let me out!" Her voice is old, hoarse and angry,

"Are you going to help her?" Thonom asks, the words moving slowly as he watches the oven. He doesn't turn to me. After a moment of silence he steps forward.

"Wait!" I reach out to stop him. "We have no idea who she is."

"All right," Thonom says, giving up, "I'm going upstairs, you deal with her."

"Who are you?" I ask the woman suspiciously.

"My name is Griselda," she tells me, her words cutting with impatience. "I was lured in by the smell of bread. I cast a spell of fire protection, but it's fading. Get me out of here!" The more she spoke the louder and more urgent her words were. But I'm not convinced.

"We'll get you out," I promise, "but we need to be sure not to hurt or endanger ourselves doing it."

"Get me out or I'll eat your heart!" her tone changes and she speaks through gritted teeth. Her threat continues, but I've stopped listening.

"Good luck with that Fire Resistance spell," I offer, which only infuriates her more.

It strikes me that if I leave Kavanath here he will probably free her, and so I take his arm and lead him away. Something inside me feels ill suddenly. Maybe it was being so close to Griselda and the oven, but I try to shake the uneasy feeling off.

"You're going up too, big guy," I tell the goliath, pushing him on ahead of me.

When we make it to the top of the stairs I can see that Thonom is already in full fight-mode.

"FIGHT!" I yell down the stairs. I'm pretty sure the others can hear me.

The dwarf, now a bear, is chomping and clawing at ghostly washer women. Each ghostly form is anchored to an old cloth or rag floating in the air. Thonom snaps his jaws and claws at one of them, leaving little more than shreds of the aged fabric. He follows this with a thunderous roar and it vibrates through the tower. I swallow the instinctive fear that bubbles up when faced with an aggressive predator. Thonom is on our side.

If my call to arms hadn't drawn our allies, Thonom's roar did the job.

I slip past the goliath and the bear and catch one of the ghostly maids with my rapiers, each one stabbing and tearing into the fabric. Sadly, it does not fall with my first strikes.

Kavanath moves ahead and cuts down a maid, two quick cuts with his long sword.

The ghostly rags move forward, closing in and finding targets. The torn rag hits my arm, I squeeze my eyes tight to the pain and stifle the gasp. Looking down at my arm I can see the spot where the skin is rotting away for just a moment and then stops. I swear through my teeth. The pain fades to a dull ache.

I can see Skud's head as he peers up over the edge of the floor from the stairs.

Thonom swipes at the rag in front of me with his paw, tearing it to shreds and knocking it to the ground. The ghostly visage of the maid dissipates.

I can hear Thorick's voice now as he's channeling nearby. The Radiance of Dawn seems to hurt each of the remaining ghostly maid-clothes.

I move forward again toward the last of the enemy. In one motion I stab both rapiers into her, and whip the cloth off quickly, flinging the remains to the ground.

With the last of the ghostly maidens gone, I watch the Bear-Dwarf move to the next set of stairs carelessly.

"Guys?" I hear Skud below in his lazy tone. "Should I be killing this oven-thing?"

"Hold on!" I yell, torn between herding a freaking bear back down, or just heading back down to help alone. "It's like having kids," I mumble to myself.

"Open it up!" Thorick dares.

"No!" I yell. "Come up here, we need to fight things together." I turn to follow Kavanath and Thonom, and I can still hear Thorick snickering. "Thonom, wait up!"

I run past the goliath and sheath my rapiers. The bear has stopped and is looking back at me now, waiting. Grabbing tufts of fur, I scale the polar bear's back to half-sit on his shoulder. A handful of fur in one hand, I retrieve one of my rapiers with the other and I ride up.

After a moment, I realize the corners of my mouth have pulled up in a fierce smile. The last time we did this was at the Elf Wizard Filaurel's tower, and that memory of riding a polar bear into battle against monstrous shades from a degrading magical amulet is definitely something that will lift the spirits.


End file.
